Thursday June 25
Today in shiur, Chanichim learned about the process and unfolding of Yemot haMashiach – what does it mean when Yeshayahu the prophet describes the End of Days as a time when “a wolf will lie with a lamb” (chapter 11)? The shiur teachers (all 17-20 year olds!!) taught the campers that we have two traditions […]
Wednesday June 24
Today we learned about Bnei Akiva’s slogan “Torah v’Avodah” which means combining Talmud Torah with hard work, especially the physical work of building Jewish society in Eretz Yisrael. In the daily skit-by-the-Roshei-Eidah on the shekem shack roof today, they taught about Kibbutzim, communities organized around the values of hard work, cooperation, building and farming. As […]
Tuesday June 23
Our morning shiur today focused on the revival of Hebrew as a national language. This was a point of contention among the Zionists. Many people coming to Eretz Yisrael to help defend and build the country were traveling from Europe and brought their foreign languages as part of this ingathering of the exiles. The chanichim […]
Monday June 22
Today in Machane, we learned about the idea of yishuv haAretz, the concept that we should settle the land that Hashem gave to Avraham’s family, promised to Bnei Yisrael in Egypt and commanded Yehoshua to conquer. The concept of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael is a foundational mitzvah in that way; it sets a stage for us to […]
Sunday June 21
Today we learned about the Torah valuing everyone in society and how the special mitzvot for the Land of Eretz Yisrael help us, as a society, take care of the poor. There is definitely an overlap between a socialist’s vision and the vision of Torah, and the chanichim learned a little about that and thought […]
Motzei Shabbat June 20
Sha-sha-shavua Tov!! We had such a beautiful smooth first Shabbat in Machane, b”h. The weather was solid, the food was yummy and the singing, tefillot, dancing and overall energy were, as our director said before havdalah, “the best he remembers it ever being on a first Shabbat”! We could tell it was going to be […]
Thursday June 19
Our shiur this morning was about the holiness of Eretz Yisrael and the term kedusha in general. Chanichim discussed that what makes the land special and different is that it was given to us by Hashem and has unique commandments associated with it. They took a look at the third bracha of the Amidah, “אתה […]
Wednesday June 18
“Boker Toooooov Sugar Grove!!” – how we have missed that wake-up over the loudspeaker 🙂 Daily Kima is 7:30 followed by mifkad-by-eidah to start the day with a roll call, some exercises/stretches and the Bnei Akiva anthem. We have five minyanim each morning so the chanichim can have an age-appropriate tefilah and as much chance […]
Tuesday June 16 – Welcome and Opening Tochnit
Welcome home Machane Stone!! It was so great to see all of the chanichim come off the buses to meet their hadracha, counselors who have been preparing for them for a week now. We had the most perfect weather for a first day, b”h. We began in true Camp Stone fashion….at the Zionist Congree in […]
Monday Aug 18 – Last day :(
We all woke up in the morning with a pit in our stomachs. These four (and for some of us, ten!!) weeks flew by so fast. Our last shiur was a review game of all the events we learned about and the halacha sources that were relevant. From the UN resolution in 1947 to the […]